


Not About Angels

by thatluckyrabbit



Category: Casper (1995)
Genre: Acceptance, Angst, Established Relationship, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Married Couple, Post-Movie(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 21:01:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2443016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatluckyrabbit/pseuds/thatluckyrabbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"...if you go... I'll come with you..."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not About Angels

**Author's Note:**

> This came as inspiration as my best friend and I fangirled over our OTP X3 I'm a sucker and an unofficial Queen of angst, so I *had* to write this, but I didn't want it to be all angsty, you know? I wanted it to be rather peaceful, and... well, just read it to see. XD

 

 _It's time._  
  
There wasn't an exact sign that his husband's time was coming to an end, but Stretch figured that being dead honestly gave him the ability to sense when someone's time was up.  
  
Then again, it should have been obvious that something was wrong when James didn't wake up.  
  
"Babe...?" If Stretch had a heart, it would have stopped and dropped to the pit of his stomach. He sat up, shaking James again. "B-Babe?"  
  
James was pale, but his chest was slowly, just barely, rising up and down. But Stretch knew. Of all things lethal to humans, he should have known cancer would be the one that would kill James Harvey in the end.  
  
 _It's... it's time..._  
  
Stretch swallowed hard, leaning forward and resting his head on James' chest. He heard a heartbeat, but it was faint, and it was growing slower each minute. It was time. It was going to happen one day, soon (as the doctors had said), but Stretch never expected it to be this unexpected.  
  
And he wasn't ready. Not for this.  
  
"...James..." Stretch muttered weakly, eyes glossing over with tears. "...baby..."  
  
James didn't move, didn't wake. He was barely breathing. And there wasn't anytime for help to get there, because he was going to die either way. Stretch knew that, and he knew what dying was like to. But his experience had been far different, because he came back. Maybe not as a fleshie, but he came back regardless.  
  
 _Either he leaves for good, or he'll come back..._  
  
Stretch took a deep, shaky breath, listening to the slow, fading heartbeat of his husband. "...if you go... I'll come with you..." He shut his eyes, stray tears trailing down his cheeks. "...wherever you go, .I'll always follow... forever and a day... f-forever and a day..."  
  
He figured his grief would be more overwhelming, but nothing could compare to when James first told him about the cancer. In a way he had already grieved, he had months to, after all. Because now, there was only a heavy sadness, but it made him feel tired. His body felt heavy, which was an odd change for a ghost who normally (physically) felt light. He wasn't sure why he felt tired and heavy, but he didn't care. Right now nothing mattered to Stretch except James.  
  
But even as he grew tired, Stretch remembered every reason why he loved James. Everything about James, everything Stretch loved about him... it all came flooding to him, and it became more overwhelming than the grief. All the memories, their memories... it came back to him as though he was seeing his afterlife flash before his eyes, as if he was dying all over again. In a way he was, but his love for James was stronger than any sadness and grief, and he knew that deep down, just like he knew that death couldn't separate them.  
  
James Harvey died a minute later, at 6:48 A.M. And while his husband's heart had stopped beating, Stretch didn't scream or cry or punch the walls and curse every god in existence like he had the day James told him he had cancer. No... this time was much different. More different than anyone, especially himself, would have thought.  
   
Instead of grief and anger pouring out like an open wound, he shut his violet eyes, the heaviness leaving his body and becoming lightness once more. Stretch inhaled slowly, then exhaled. His ecto evaporated into the air like dust with his last breath and disappeared into nothingness, until there was nothing left of Jackson McFadden but the stillness in the air.

When he opened his eyes, there was brightness, and in the middle of the overwhelming light he saw James smiling at him.

_"I knew you'd come with me."_

 


End file.
